Chapter 5: THE CURRICULUM

56) What is the relationship of
A
Course in Miracles to other spiritual paths, and specifically to the
Bible?

This is an extremely important question,
because the incorrect understanding of the answer inevitably leads to serious
distortion of what A Course in Miracles actually teaches and how
it is meant to be practiced. We live in an age where many followers of
spiritual paths -- usually grouped together in what is termed the "new
age" -- emphasize unity instead of diversity. While this is an admirable
spiritual goal, certainly, it does serve to deny the "fact" of our separated
world; namely, that we are all different, and that different spiritual
paths are thus required. Once this is accepted, then it is clear
that different paths will be
different. This is clearly obvious
on one level, but is frequently obscured by the need to blur differences
for the sake of a spurious unity. This does every spiritual path
a disservice, and Jesus always made it clear to Helen personally, as well
as in A Course in Miracles itself, how different his Course
was from other paths. This does not necessarily mean it is better, but
it does mean that it is unique.

Near the beginning of the manual for
teachers, Jesus says of A Course in Miracles:

This is a manual for a special
curriculum, intended for teachers of a special form of the universal course.
There are many thousands of other forms, all with the same outcome (M-1.4:1-2).

And we have already examined Jesus' special
message to Helen -- "I Need Do Nothing" -- where Jesus contrasts his
Course with other spiritualities that emphasize meditation and contemplation.

Therefore, on the one hand, the Course's
relationship to other spiritual paths is that it shares the same
goal of returning home to God. It is different, however, because
its theology and practice are different. Jesus summarizes this relationship
in his pithy comment:

A universal theology is impossible,
but a universal experience is not only possible but necessary (C-in.2:5).

As we have already seen, A Course in
Miracles is a non-dualistic spirituality, while almost all others are
dualistic. Confusing the Course with other spiritual thought systems, saying
"the Course is just like ... (fill in your favorite spirituality)" is simply
in the end a subtle ego ploy for changing A Course in Miracles so
that its teachings will be less threatening. We, of course, have seen in
our Western history a notable example of this ego device when the Christian
world made Jesus and his teachings into an extension of Judaism and the
Old Testament, rather than accepting him and his message as the radical
gift it was, independent of all that preceded it. Students of A Course
in Miracles should profit from this mistake of the past, and grow into
the Course, rather than attempting to scale it down to their own level
of understanding.

Another form of this mistake is the
common practice of including A Course in Miracles with what Aldous
Huxley termed "the perennial philosophy," a catch-all phrase used to embrace
the major mystical traditions of the world. Again, this does the
Course a profound disservice, because it blurs what is its distinctive
contribution to the world's spiritualities: the idea that not only was
the physical universe an illusion that God did not create, but that it
was also "made as an attack" on Him (W-pII.3.2:1). This profound and sophisticated
psychological principle, integrated with a pure non-dualistic metaphysics
is what renders A Course in Miracles unique among the spiritual
and religious thought systems of the world.

Comparing A Course in Miracles
specifically with the Bible, we can see four major areas of differences,
making these two spiritual paths totally incompatible. We quote from the
introduction to A
Course in Miracles and Christianity: A Dialogueby Kenneth
and the Jesuit philosopher Father Norris Clarke, which explores these differences
in greater depth:

1) A Course in Miracles
teaches that God did not create the physical universe, which includes all
matter, form, and the body; the Bible states that He did.

2) The God of A Course in Miracles
does not even know about the sin of separation (since to know about it
would make it real), let alone react to it; the God of the Bible perceives
sin directly, as is portrayed in the Garden of Eden story ... and His responses
to it are vigorous, dramatic, and at timespunitive, to say the very least.

3) A Course in Miracles' Jesus
is equal to everyone else, a part of God's one Son or Christ; the Bible's
Jesus is seen as special, apart, and therefore ontologically different
from everyone else, being God's only begotten Son, the second person of
the Trinity.

4) The Jesus of A Course in Miracles
is not sent by God to suffer and die on the cross in a sacrificial act
of atonement for sin, but rather teaches that there is no sin by demonstrating
that nothing happened to him in reality, for sin has no effect on the Love
of God; the Jesus of the Bible agonizes, suffers, and dies for the sins
of the world in an act that brings vicarious salvation to humanity, thereby
establishing sin and death as real, and moreover clearly reflecting that
God has been affected by Adam's sin and must respond to its actual presence
in the world by sacrificing His beloved Son. (pp. 2-3 from the Dialogue)

While our answer has focused on the Bible,
the same basic message can be given regarding any other spiritual path.
While there certainly can be nothing wrong with reading other spiritualities
or being interested in learning more about them, nor in attending religious
services, spiritual meetings, etc., a student of A Course in Miracles
should at least be cautious -- to make the point again -- about attempting
to blend together theologies or spiritual approaches that ultimately do
not mix. Some spiritualities lend themselves to such "blending together";
A
Course in Miracles does not.